"I’ve had a whole lot of people in tastings tell me, ‘I wouldn’t drink bourbon, but this is great,’" Alltech’s master brewer Ken Lee told us. His beer has a balanced flavor—a malty character balanced by a flash of hoppiness—with a finish that smacks of bourbon but doesn’t knock you off your feet. Caramel-ly bourbon notes are”delivered without that alcohol bite that some people are offended by,” Lee said. In fact, he often refers to it as “a mild-mannered beer.”

Here’s how it’s made: The hops traditionally used to make English pale ales and the malt used in Irish red ale go into one base beer. (This un-aged beer, Kentucky Ale, is another of Alltech’s signature brews.) The liquid then spends at least six weeks in just-emptied bourbon barrels from nearby distilleries—those that produce Woodford Reserve, Wild Turkey, Maker’s Mark, and Jim Beam, among others—at temperatures between 38 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit. The relatively cool temperature of the liquid in the barrels, suggested Lee, mellows out any harsh, super-spirited flavors.